Letters to the Editor

Regarding Matthew Petrillo’s cover story about a proposed Neighborhood Improvement Project in North Central:

Contrary to the slant of your article and your inflammatory cover, the new entity will be anything but a burden on the long-time residents of North Central. The proposed legislation is clear—only commercial or rental-property owners will be assessed. Owner-occupants will not. To suggest that this new initiative will be a “burden to the already struggling neighborhood” may be a way to get attention and circulate more papers, but it is patently untrue. The intent of the new entity is to create a mechanism where those who have been investing in properties in the neighborhood will be required to also invest in neighborhood quality of life measures. The NID will be very tightly focused on neighborhood cleanliness and security. The “struggling neighborhood” will stand to benefit significantly.

NCNID Steering Committee, via philadelphiaweekly.com

The steering committee is a self appointed group of developers seeking power from the city to tax and to place liens on property owners who fail to pay the tax to them. This is not a voluntary association; it is empowered by the city to collect taxes on every property owner as defined by the steering committee whether they agree or not with the NID. The Philadelphia CCD began in the same manner and now is a taxing monster that targets residential owners of property. When the Temple NID is up for renewal it can do the same. The goal of these developers is to obtain state and federal subsidies for their investments under the disguise of a non-profit NID.

PABLO O’HIGGINS, via philadelphiaweekly.com

So they secretly make a NID and put developers on the steering committee of it. How many of those people donated to Clarke, I wonder. They probably read about more kids going to Temple and see dollar signs. Bah. If they were really sincere about raising money to benefit the city, they’d actually collect those taxes that 42 percent of the people in the area owe, and not make everyone pay a new tax instead.

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1. Bob Snodgrass said... on Mar 8, 2012 at 01:13PM

“I worked at the Exton, Pa. Walmart for nearly 10-years. i loved my job, gave my all every day, received good reviews for work performance, and often got letters and compliments from customers about my excellent customer service.Then, we got a new manager who was often severely verbally abusive to many employees, myself, and even a mentally handicapped female associate who i have seen him verbally bash so badly that she could not continue working and was sent hysterically crying to the break room to recover. In accordance with company policy, and in attempt to secure a reasonable work environment for me and my fellow colleagues i reported this behavior each time i witnessed it. The manager then began making negative comments to me about my reporting him and eventually fired me.At this point i first contacted the NLRB and they filed a charge on Walmart. I then had my job reinstated in exchange for dropping the NLRB charge, but upon returning to work i was faced with consistent obvious retaliation and wrongfully fired again most recently on Oct,6,2011. I then re-contacted the NLRB concerning the retaliation and my case was somehow unbelievably, suspiciously dismissed. The reason for dismissal letter from the NLRB is full of false information and even lies. When i began reporting abusive manager i was told by some people that i would be fired for reporting the bad work conditions, and that i was naive to trust the government and believe that they would protect me against retaliation, but i thought these beliefs to be shameful and i chose to do the right thing and attempt to secure a decent and reasonable work environment for me and my fellow colleagues. Now it seems, so far, that those people were right. Thank You Sincerely, Robert Snodgrass, snod307@hotmail.com. 484-252-9596I would greatly appreciate if you would please confirm receipt.”

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Related Content

Vivian VanStory is wary of Council President Darrell Clarke’s plan to bring a Neighborhood Improvement District (NID)—a nonprofit established by City Council in which a tax is used to improve the district—into the community. Unlike VanStory’s neighborhood improvement efforts, which don’t cost residents a dime, Clarke’s NID would charge property owners, like VanStory, a fee on top of their real-estate tax. While she admits that parts of the neighborhood could use significant improvements, it’s the process of creating the NID that, VanStory says, intentionally neglects any due process.